What if ?
by The Ascent Beckons
Summary: What if somebody else was there that night? What if somebody else knew Voldemorts source? Alice Prewett sees everything, hears everything on that night at Godrics Hollow. Will she be able to safeguard Harry with the Weasleys, Sirius and Remus until year 7
1. That fateful night

Alice Prewett stood in library of the Potter household listening intently to the loud noises of wand fire and the screaming rage coming from what she guessed was James Potter. Although she knew that the room in which she resided was safe from the sight of the attacker the pure flood of fear within her could not be contained. As she stared intently at the doorway – an open archway – the only thing hiding her from the figure now present within it were Lily's wards. It was clear that at any moment those wards would fail as the figure of Voldemort ascended the staircase. Once he was out of sight the only thing to be seen was the slackened grip of James hand around his wand on the floor beside the opening.

As tears streamed down Alice's face she cast a disillusionment charm over herself and followed the footsteps of Voldemort himself, being careful to make no sound. Lily's pleads of mercy and compassion could be heard at this point however the sound of Voldemort's exclamations of laughter at her 'pitiful fight' seemed to draw the situation into reality – he was not going to spare her.

"Did you really think that I, the most powerful wizard of our time would allow the child of a mud blood, no less, to hold a power greater than my own? No." the cold tone of Voldemort's voice thrilled through Alice as she stood helpless in the doorway to Harry's room as he carried on "No! Your friend Wormtail was quite gracious in advising me of your presence in Godrics Hollow and now, here we are." Voldemort made a great sweeping arch through the air shouting "Avada Kedavra" in his shrill, chilling tone. As his spell met Lily's chest she was thrown sideways leaving Harry's crib exposed, one solitary tear made its way down Alice's face.

However with a nod of determination Alice lifted her wand in sync with Voldemort and as he whispered the words "Avada Kedavra" her invisible shield hit the green light directly and in the process creating a blinding blue explosion to erupt around the room. The only sound was the whirring of the sneakoscope in the downstairs library and the crackling of the fires now erupted around the crib of Harry Potter.

The sound of a shrieking baby reached her ears. Alice groaned as she woke from what she envisioned as a nightmare, however she was quick to realise it had been real. Harry was lay down in his crib yelling for his mummy, his limbs flailing and his face bright red from excursion. There appeared to be no sign of Voldemort as Alice approached the crib to retrieve Harry; however Lily was lying on the floor with no life in her eyes but an expression of determination on her face, she was not going to let Voldemort harm her child without a fight.

It would seem that Lily's own perseverance and Alice's intervention saved Harry from his fate, though a lightning bolt cut had appeared upon his forehead but it had apparently sealed itself. Alice ran down the stairs away from the room and past James into the library, the alarm had to be sounded. She lay harry down on the sofa and approached the fireplace grabbing a fistful of floo powder along the way. As she threw it into the flames she called out the familiar name of the Burrow, which at this moment she knew held several aurors and friends of Lily and James. She thrust her head into the green flames.

"Molly! Molly!" she was yelling at the top of her voice, able to see upon the wall opposite that her own hand on the clock was pointing at mortal peril. A short plump woman came into view clutching tightly to a struggling one year old.

"Oh Alice, I'm so glad you're alright!" she exclaimed blotting her face with an already sopping handkerchief.

"Yes, Yes I'm ok but Molly are Sirius and Remus there?' the desperation in her voice may have been what prompted the devastation on Molly Weasley's face, she was piecing together the situation, reading her sister like an open book. As a trainee Auror Alice knew not to disclose too much to Sirius on this occasion because he, as her mentor, had told her that anyone too close to the people involved are to be treated as loose cannons, they are to be told enough but not every detail in the immediate telling.

"Remus, Sirius I need you to bring Wormtail in. I will meet you at the office, be quick it's not safe." With this Alice withdrew her head from the fireplace, snatched up Harry and apparated to the ministry of magic.


	2. Revealing the truth

In a small isolated room within the Auror department of the Ministry of Magic a petite woman clutched onto the small person in her arms humming a soft tune to the restless child, his dark tuft of hair just visible underneath a cocoon of blankets. One tear splashed onto the child's scared forehead after leaving its trail down the pale cheek of Alice Prewett, it shone for a moment and then seemed to be absorbed into the skin. None of this was noticed however as a sharp rap on the door caused Alice's head to spin so fast towards the frosted glass that held the silhouette of three familiar men.

Alice laid down the now sleeping Harry behind a dividing wall casting the mufflaitio charm to ensure that her conversation was not disrupted and nor was his sleep. She straightened up, wiped her eyes and ensured that her face gave nothing away. This was not going to be easy.

The brass door knob twisted and from behind it emerged Remus, Sirius and a rather nervous looking Peter. Alice allowed herself a small smile at the thought that as the door clicked shut behind them nobody would be able to get into or out of the room until the guilty member of the party had been fully apprehended.

Sirius was the first to speak his tone jolly and unaware "so what's all of this about? Molly was about to serve up desert" he ended the sentence with a large grin at the idea of Molly Weasley's plentiful portions. At the steely look on Alice's face his grin faltered and he strode to her side grasping both of her shoulders and directing her face towards his. Grey eyes searched brown and he backed away looking solemnly into her now faltering expression.

"James and Lily?" his voice cracked and he backed further away tripping slightly into the grasp of Remus' steadying hand. Alice gave a shaky nod and collapsed into her own chair battling with herself to keep her emotions in check, her breaking down would make this all the harder. She took a few shuddering breaths and focused on her recollection of the nights events.

"There was nothing I could do, I was in the library when it started and the wards around it are such that it becomes locked upon intrusion, the wards started to falter when he got in" Her voice was becoming stronger as she spoke, this was all down to one man in front of her, they needed to know every detail "It was him Remus, Voldemort." As she said it two faces flinched and a whimper came from the doorway, from which Pettigrew had not moved.

"Once he had fought James the wards fell completely, it is only through James' efforts that I was not detected, he gave me enough time to hide myself, I managed to follow him upstairs but he had already found Lily, she was shielding Harry but I couldn't do anything , I promise you I would have" Sirius' head was resting in his hands and he was slowly shaking it from side to side as if the routine of it would make it not real, Remus stood with a straight back tears leaving trails down his face. "One thing, the one thing that didn't make sense was that he couldn't have known where they were, not unless the secret keeper had disclosed the information" Alice leaned back in her chair letting the cry from the doorway to do the rest of the telling her eyes followed the pathway of realisation between the three men.

Sirius froze in his seat the swaying motion of his head ceased in realisation, Remus merely clenched his fists while his eyes became almost wolf-like and Peter scratched at the door, knowing what was going to happen. There was no escape for him. Sirius rose from his seat his face the picture of sorrow, betrayal and anger, a smouldering and unwavering anger that even made Alice shiver. Both men descended upon Wormtail unable to reach him however as Alice had moved quickly to block there path. A petite hand rested on each man's chest halting their progress.

"Would they have wanted you to also be implicated in his brutish and unforgiving act? No, I have a plan" this whispered message allowed both men to re-think their actions and they took a step back as Alice herself turned upon Wormtail. She raised her wand and silently stunned him and pulled a small cage from underneath the round table that she had been sitting at. As soon as she had transformed Peter into his rat form and shoved him into the cage being careful to be as rough as possible, Sirius and Remus descended upon her engulfing her in a tight but comforting embrace. They sobbed into each other's shoulders not caring that to anyone but those that new them their over emotional states would look highly out of professional character.

After a while Alice moved to retrieve Harry from his makeshift bed around the room divide, holding him out to the outreaching arms of Sirius.

"He's your responsibility now Sirius, as godfather" Alice began to back away but before she could leave through the frosted glass door she felt a hand clasp around her shoulder and spin her around, the hand moved to her chin and the rough skin lifted her face to meet his.

"You mean our responsibility?" Sirius' grey eyes bore into her brown ones as a small smile crept onto Alice's face and a small breath that she hadn't realised she was holding escaped from her mouth.


End file.
